Learning Forward

In Episode 7 of Where Passion Meets Education (WPME), Sandeep Dutt engages in a lively conversation with Nisha Bhakar, who shares her passion for education, emphasising the importance of libraries and giving students space to explore and discover themselves.

We celebrate Children’s Day 2024 with the story of Nandha Gokulam Life School and our passionate educator, Nisha Bhakar.

Nisha Bhakar's Educational Philosophy

* Emphasis on creating joyful learning spaces and libraries.

* Belief in allowing students to be vulnerable, explore, and discover themselves.

* It is essential to give students different perspectives and understand personal growth.

* Value of books in personal and professional development.

Teacher's Role and Passion for Education

* Nisha's journey from reluctant teacher to passionate educator.

* Importance of family support in pursuing an educational career.

* Value of continuous learning and self-discovery for teachers.

* Emphasis on reading as a crucial tool for teacher development and reflection.

About her life and work

Nisha Bhakar entered the world of education when big questions arose about traditional ideologues in education. Her past two decades of hands-on approach towards child development and education and her ability to sense practical solutions customised to every classroom have turned around many schools. Her understanding of curriculum and pedagogy across boards CBSE, CAIE ( CIE) & PYP-IB and her passion and thirst for learning are visible in the reading culture nurtured amongst the teachers and students of all her schools. She led the whole school transformation at The Heritage School, Gurgaon, set up one of the largest schools offering Cambridge (CAIE) qualifications in Hyderabad, and headed a GEMS-managed school in Jaipur.

Nisha is currently working in education at Vishwa Samudra Holdings, Hyderabad. She is engaged in setting up an all-boys residential school with international facilities for underprivileged children at Nellore, AP.

Nisha Bhakar’s experience in education has been focused on planning, designing and reviewing curriculum, developing and implementing teacher training focusing on thematic approach & project-based learning to teaching learning and developing resource material for teachers as well as students along with the administrative responsibilities of running and setting up a school from inception.

In the past, Ms Bhakar has also been engaged as an Advisor and consultant to schools like the United World College, Pune (IBDP School), and Mt. Carmel at Delhi, to name a few. She was a member of the Core Team of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, led by NCERT Reading Cell. Member of Indian Principal’s team visiting Germany, Singapore, the UK, and Canada to understand the higher education system in these countries.

Actively involved in developing the Teacher’s Resource Packs for English Language Teaching (ELT) for Oxford University Press & Pearson Education. Awarded the ‘Best Educationist Award’ in 2012. Ms Nisha Bhakar has also been honoured as one of Asia’s most outstanding leaders of 2019, among other awards.

Reading, travelling, and adventure sports, especially white-water rafting, are some of her areas of interest. Nisha cherishes skydiving at Dubai Zero Point and scuba diving.

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NGLS is yet another school that has resulted from Vishwa Samudra Holdings Chairman’s desire to impact young minds with the proper schooling experience. The Group Management envisioned quality educational institutions and started this journey over a decade ago by setting up two co-educational schools for underprivileged students, one offering state board education and another a premier CBSE residential school. The third project was a CBSE school with impressive infrastructure and facilities at Nellore. NGLS is the fourth school being set up by this Management.

Read more: The 7Cs of Nandha Gokulam: https://nglifeschool.com/the-7cs/

What sets NGLS apart from previous schools is its core philosophy. It is a school designed to give a platform to underprivileged boys who can now dream of achieving what they truly deserve and will not be deprived because they come from economically weaker sections of our society.

Find out more about NGLS at: https://nglifeschool.com

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In Episode 6 of Where Passion Meets Education (WPME), Sandeep Dutt engages in a heartfelt conversation with Amit Sachdeva. Together, they delve into the profound significance of service in education and the enduring wisdom of Gandhi's teachings. Their discussion revolves around the vital task of integrating these principles into the schooling fabric. Often hailed as the CSR Man Of India, Amit fervently advocates for businesses to embody empathy and actively contribute to the welfare of society. The timeless message of Mahatma Gandhi's 18 teachings and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a guiding light, inspiring us to foster a more compassionate and sustainable world.

Key Takeaways

* Service is the essence of schooling, emphasising giving, sharing, and community-building.

* Schooling should prioritise holistic development over academic focus, incorporating 17 SDGs and 18 Gandhian principles.

* Passion-driven education leads to better human development and societal contribution.

* Schools must actively involve students in service activities and address biases to create a more inclusive learning environment.

Gandhi's Influence and Service-Oriented Education

* Gandhi's teachings emphasise service, giving, love, justice, equality, and self-reliance.

* Schools should focus on "schooling" rather than just being institutions.

* Service is the first step in schooling, teaching children to share and be part of a community.

* Amit Sachdeva highlighted as an example of carrying Gandhi's message to a large audience.

Integrating Service into School Curriculum

* Introduce weekly classes on compassion and giving.

* Involve students with non-profit organisations, corporate foundations, and charitable trusts.

* Engage students in environmental activities (tree planting, learning about biodiversity).

* Address teaching biases and promote gender equality in classrooms.

* Connect students with underprivileged peers to broaden their worldview.

Passion as a Fuel for Education and Life

* Importance of identifying and nurturing children's passions early.

* Amit shared his journey of finding purpose through media, CSR, and Gandhian principles.

* Emphasised the need to simplify life and focus on giving back to society.

* Continuous learning highlighted (Amit pursuing further education in law and environment).

Creating a Culture of Service in Schools

* Implement the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 18 Gandhian constructive programs.

* Focus on reading, reflection, and building relationships as core aspects of schooling.

* Please encourage students to think beyond their immediate circle and consider global issues.

* Prepare students to be responsible leaders in their future careers, considering sustainable practices.

For more about Amit Sachdeva visit:

https://www.amitsachdeva.com/

Join us at My Good School and spend a day with Amit and the students of My Good School: https://schooleducation.com/my-good-school-retreat

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Happiness unplugged 🎉, Oshi, Simar, Sai Kiran, Anoushka, and Rishona are back with a beautiful tribute to their much loved My Good School #JoyOfLearning. Where passion meets education #MyGoodSchool.

We are celebrating our 3rd birthday 🎉 . Why not send us a gift? We are sharing the Payment Link for sending a gift to the Learning Forward India 🇮🇳 Foundation #JoyOfLearning Fund.

Use this link to enter the amount and pay securely via Razorpay: https://razorpay.me/@learningforwardindia

🙏😍📖

The story of our 1st Birthday in 2022:

Life is a journey with problems to solve, lessons to learn, but, most of all, experiences to share and experiences to enjoy. We at My Good School come here today to celebrate our learnings and lessons as a beautiful year passes. Join us in celebrating our school as we laugh at Totto-chan’s tactics, learn from Swami’s mistakes, realise the road from the Art of Focus, and improve from each session hereafter. 

Anvesha Rana and Simar Kaur - Hosts from Gyanshree School; Rishona Chopra, Yashraj Sharma and Vani Pandey - Gyanshree School; Arav Agarwal, Billabong High International School Thane; Arfa Khan, Shambhavi Nautiyal -  Ahlcon Public School; Reveda Bhatt, The Aryan School; Kunal Rajpurohit from The Fabindia School; and our Mentors Sandeep Sir and Jugjiv Sir. Comment below and let us know if you liked our podcast.

If you want to participate in similar podcasts, join us. That’s all for us today. Thanks for tuning in. Enjoy our shows on www.LearningForwardPodcast.com. You will love the stories our students, teachers, and passionate educators share. Listen to the episode:

Yes, there is a lovely story for 2nd Birthday 🎉 !

Check out the video of the Celebrations:

https://vimeo.com/mygoodschool/birthday

Good Schools India Journal is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Episode 5 of Where Passion Meets Education (WPME). Sandeep Dutt in conversation with Naga Prasad Tummala (NP). The podcast celebrates the life and legacy of Shomie Das, an influential educator, through the lens of Naga Tummala’s experiences and book.

Key Takeaways

* Shomie Das profoundly impacted education in India, touching numerous schools throughout his life.

* Naga Tummala and his partner Raj Yarlgadda built Oakridge International School with Shomie Das’s guidance, focusing on child-centred education.

* Trust, relationships, and adapting to new technologies in education were emphasised.

What we talked about:

Shomie Das’s Legacy

* Described as a visionary who could “see tomorrow” in education.

* He impacted 80+ schools throughout his 80+ year life.

* Mentored Naga Tummala and influenced the creation of Oakridge International School.

Naga Tummala’s Journey

* I moved from a small town to a city then to a metropolis to pursue educational aspirations.

* Co-founded Oakridge International School with long-time friend Raj Yarlagadda.

* Wrote a book about Shomie Das, celebrating 25 years of his influence.

Critical Principles for School Management

* Keep children at the centre of all decisions and actions.

* Create a happy organisation where teachers can thrive.

* Be clear about the school’s mission (profit vs. charity) to avoid contradictions.

Child-Centered Education at Oakridge

* Removed prescribed textbooks to encourage exploration.

* We implemented internet-connected classrooms as early as 2001.

* We are focused on learning from the environment and hands-on experiences.

Teacher Recruitment and Development

* Prioritised passion for teaching and love for children over experience.

* We recruited younger teachers with high enthusiasm and learning ability.

* They provided freedom for teachers to develop their teaching methods.

Parent Involvement

* We viewed parents as “volunteers on the ground” (50 volunteers for 25 students).

* Established daily communication systems between teachers and parents.

* Emphasised emotional connection and shared interest in student success.

Future of Education

* Currently working on AI-enhanced learning solutions to empower teachers.

* Recognising the shift towards students and teachers being equal learners.

* Adapting to new technologies while maintaining human connections.

Next Steps

* Readers are encouraged to obtain Naga Tummala’s book about Shomie Das.

* Continue exploring and implementing child-centred education principles.

* Adapt educational practices to incorporate new technologies like AI.

* Maintain focus on trust, relationships, and emotional connections in education.

The story of the life and times of one of the finest educationists of modern India.

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Linkedin Profile of Naga Tummala“To build a school is to build a civilisation; with technology, a school can be accessible anywhere, anytime.”

This motto underscores the visionary approach of Naga Tummala, the co-founder and CEO of Coschool www.coschool.ai, a generative AI-powered, comprehensive learning system that empowers schools.Naga’s journey in education began over 30 years ago as the co-founder and chairman of the People Combine group, which founded Oakridge International Schools. He is also one of the co-founders of FICCI ARISE and a key strategic brand behind its rise to significance. People Combine was acclaimed as one of India’s top 15 workplaces in 2019 by Great Places to Work and The Economic Times and was recognised among India’s top 10 for working women in 2016 and 2017 by Avatar and Working Mother Group. In 2019, its divestment from Oakridge set a precedent as India’s largest FDI in education. As a socially conscious individual, Naga pledged to donate one-third of his net worth to philanthropy.

* The video recording of the podcast is available on vimeo.

In August 2020, I recoreded a podcast with Shomie, tune in here:

Join Simar and Oshi as they dive into the highs and lows of dealing with exam stress in this lively episode of 2 Girls 1 Mic. Drawing from personal experiences—like Simar’s impromptu dance sessions to clear her mind and Oshi’s love for colour-coded notes—they offer practical tips and strategies to help you stay calm and focused during exam season.

Do you find yourself overwhelmed by endless study sessions? Or perhaps you need a fresh perspective on tackling that dreaded pre-exam panic? Simar and Oshi have got you covered, sharing breathing techniques, study hacks, and ways to take care of your mental health. So, this midterm season, remember to take it easy and work towards being more productive with these tips and tricks!

Tune in for a fun and relatable conversation to confidently crush those exams. And don’t forget to leave your tips in the comments—we’d love to hear how you conquer exam stress!

Hosts: Simar Kaur and Oshi Singh from Gyanshree School Noida.

Brought to you by My Good School

Good Schools India Journal is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The Podcast gives a voice to students, teachers, and passionate educators spreading the #JoyOfLearning. Available on Spotify, Apple, SoundCloud, Google, and other apps. © Learning Forward India Foundation.Would you like to record an Episode with me?

All you need is to send an email and join us at the Good Schools Alliance, as an institutional member. At Good Schools Alliance, we are working to revolutionise education, driven by our passion for delivering top-notch learning opportunities to all. If you wish to find out more, please visit www.GoodSchoolsAlliance.com.

Our journey started with a vision to make education available to all, no matter where they come from. Our main goal is to cultivate an environment of trust and continual growth.

Where Passion Meets EducationTune in to discover where passion meets education and spread #JoyOfLearning.

Good Schools India Journal is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Episode 4 of Where Passion Meets Education (WPME) host Sandeep Dutt in conversation with Sunil Malhotra.

Sunil Malhotra’s entrepreneurial experience spans Design, Manufacturing and Information Technology. A thought leader in Design Thinking and Exponential Transformation, Sunil founded Ideafarms to bring industrial design to ICT.

On the 7th of July 2024 Sunil joined us at My Good School and talked about his latestbook YOGAi, a result of the author’s professional experience, embellished by interactions with Dr. Karan Singh, Ervin Laszlo, Satish Kumar, John Maeda, Salim Ismail and other luminaries, making it a well-rounded treatise on the interplays of Yoga and Ai. When the dust settles on the hype around Ai, the world is likely to remain wildly unpredictable. Use this book as a starting point for understanding the human quest for truth, and creating technologies wisely to make our lives richer and the world a better place.

"You teach best what you most need to learn." ~Richard Bach

Sunil and Sandeep talk about learning, thinking and growing up. Eastern philosophy and Western thought, how the two work together in the world today, and why Indian philosophy is way advanced. He believes that knowledge must be free to flow and help build a world of higher-order thinking, unlike in the West, where ownership of knowledge is the key to their profiteering and intellectual property is treated as the wealth of people and organisations. The oldest Upnishads may be as old as 8th century BC, and this ancient reservoir of knowledge will always be the core of any learning for civilisations to come, their message and understanding has not been truly captured in the unlimited number of books and western literature.

The Upanishads present a vision of an interconnected universe with a single, unifying principle behind the apparent diversity in the cosmos, any articulation of which is called brahman. Within this context, the Upanishads teach that brahman resides in the atman, the unchanging core of the human individual. - Wikipedia

Starting from Upanishads, to schools, how children learn and what is the way forward for education the podcast in a matter of 15 plus mintutes touches on the core of the human learning systems as they exist today and what lies ahead. We need to unlearn first, and not be hostage to the industrial age school system, which much like an industrial proecss indoctrinates and robs every indivudal of #JoyOfLearning.

Design as a philosophy, as a tool, is with every individual, a true designer just delves within, we design our own lives and move on. What bubbles up, passion needs to come within yourself, mind is all powerful, free ourselves and use the mind as an insturment, true passion evolves.

Freeing the mind, is that education? This pushed Sunil into another world and the coversation is all yours to listen to!

‘Victims of education’, the problem is that the education system uses words, that only gives us literacy. You need to learn for life, we must demolish the entire school system.

Talking about teaching and learning, does learning come before teaching? It obviously does and Sunil corroborates how. From mother tongue and perfect communication before going to school to the vagaries of the system, there is a need to unlearn. Signs of optimism and why Sunil wrote the book YOGAi.

"We can’t change the direction of the wind, but we can adjust the sails.”

YOGAi makes Ai approachable by contextualising the evolution of technology. These technologies have crept upon us, even without our noticing, and yet when it comes to leveraging them, we still have a tendency to shy away. Technologies with broad, general applications in their early stages take an inordinate amount of time to emerge, but eventually their power becomes self-evident, and they take hold over society in disruptive ways.Another goal of YOGAi is to make you accessible to yourself by contextualising the evolution of the human mind. Attention is brought to Yoga, narrowly understood as physical exercises from India, which in fact are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Yoga serves as a powerful tool for self-discovery, enabling individuals to explore their innermost selves and cultivate a deeper understanding of their identities, purpose, and connections to the world. Ultimately, the convergence of Yoga and Ai represents a pathway towards realising human potential and creating a more equitable and sustainable world for all.

Let us togther cocreate space for passion and learning to blossom, this would be the true meaning of education, and we will be fair to the young people whose future is at stake in the hands of the policy makers and institutions that are more business models and less about #JoyOfLearning.

Good Schools India Journal is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Thanks for reading Good Schools India Journal!

Hello and welcome to Timeless Tales, the podcast where we explore the world's most enduring stories and their significance. My name is Shreya, and my name is Paddy. Today, we are delving into the world of Jataka Tales.

We share our #JoyOfLearning at our Sunday School; enjoy the My Good School session recording on 11th August 2024. Check it out: excerpt of The Great Dreams - Jataka Tales, our current read. Jugjiv Singh is an out anchor and coach for the Sunday morning Zoom Sessions. His reading and conversations are legendary, and there is no #JoyOfLearning.

Note-taking and sharing reflections are two different activities with distinct purposes: by Learning Forward India Foundation.Recording your thoughts and spreading your insights are unique tasks, each with its intentions and outcomes.

Note-taking: - Involves recording information, ideas, or insights from a lesson, lecture, or reading.

* Focuses on capturing facts, concepts, and details.

* Helps with memory retention, review, and reference.

* It is often done individually.

Sharing reflections: - Involves sharing thoughts, opinions, or insights about what has been learned.

* Focuses on making connections, analysing, and evaluating information.

* Encourages critical thinking, synthesis, and application.

* Often done collaboratively or publicly, such as in a discussion or blog post.

While note-taking is primarily about capturing information, sharing reflections is about processing, interpreting, and sharing perspectives.- Source www.JoyOfLearningDiaries.com

Thank you, Sunbeam School Varuna and Deeba Naqvi.